Today's Harvest

In any business, including natural resource-based enterprises like farming, fishing and forestry, knowing your costs has always been important. But in today’s world of tight margins, it is imperative. Knowing, and managing, your cost of production is essential to running a profitable operation.

Farm Credit East recently presented the results of the 2017 Northeast Dairy Farm Summary. It was a mixed bag – average earnings increased due to a rise in milk prices, but cash flow came in at breakeven for the third year in a row. Read more here.

The weather is probably the most important reason for price volatility in any given year. However, lots of other factors can also play a role. Dr. Patrick Westhoff, Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri-Columbia, discusses grain supply and demand factors in this 2018 outlook.

Despite a $1.39/cwt. drop in milk prices, dairy farms showed remarkable resilience with slightly improved financial results in 2016 compared to 2015. Read more about the results recently reported during a webinar held by Farm Credit East on the 2016 Northeast Dairy Farm Summary.